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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29831880">The Worst/Best Birthday</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/sweeetbabe/pseuds/sweeetbabe'>sweeetbabe</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Book 2: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, F/M, Family Fluff, Hinny, POV Harry Potter, Potter Family-centric (Harry Potter)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-03-04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-03-04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-15 21:13:50</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,075</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29831880</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/sweeetbabe/pseuds/sweeetbabe</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Some things have changed since he was 12 and lived with the Dursleys. Harry now has a family, and birthdays are not so lonely anymore</p><p>or</p><p>A parallel between Harry's 30th birthday and his 12th birthday.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Harry Potter / Ginny Weasley</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>50</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>The Worst/Best Birthday</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>since I reread the first chapter of Chamber Of Secrets, I thought about making a parallel of Harry's future, of him having a family that loves him and having a good birthday<br/>I wish it had gotten bigger, but that's okay</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em>Not for the first time, an argument had broken out over breakfast at number four, Privet Drive. Mr. Vernon Dursley had been woken in the early hours of the morning by a loud, hooting noise from his nephew Harry’s room. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Third time this week!” he roared across the table. “If you can’t control that owl, it’ll have to go!” Harry tried, yet again, to explain. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>“She’s bored,” he said. “She’s used to flying around outside. If I could just let her out at night -” </em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Do I look stupid?” snarled Uncle Vernon, a bit of fried egg dangling from his bushy mustache. “I know what’ll happen if that owl’s let out.” </em>
</p><p>
  <em>He exchanged dark looks with his wife, Petunia.</em>
</p><p> </p><p>Not for the first time, an argument had broken out over breakfast at the Weasley-Potter family home. Having small children made it a common occurrence, and since Teddy had returned from his second year at Hogwarts, it seemed that the loud conversations that ended in arguments between James and Albus - and sometimes even Lily - were more common.</p><p>'Please, let's keep calm,' Ginny asked, placing the cups on the table while the sliced fruit levitated beside her. 'Lily dear, Teddy is not allowed to do magic outside of school.'</p><p>'And even if he did, he wouldn't do it to someone boring like you,' James replied, showing his tongue to his sister, who seemed to boil with rage, her cheeks pink and her chest puffed up to answer the height of the provocation.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>“Pass the frying pan.” </em>
</p><p>
  <em>“You’ve forgotten the magic word,” said Harry irritably. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>The effect of this simple sentence on the rest of the family was incredible: Dudley gasped and fell off his chair with a crash that shook the whole kitchen; Mrs. Dursley gave a small scream and clapped her hands to her mouth; Mr. Dursley jumped to his feet, veins throbbing in his temples. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>“I meant ‘please’!” said Harry quickly. “I didn’t mean —”</em>
</p><p> </p><p>'Enough, enough, please.' Harry interrupted the two brothers, hands on the children's shoulders and making Lily sit down again, smiling at them. ‘No fights today.’</p><p>'Good morning daddy!' Albus knelt in his chair, looking anxious for Harry to sit next to him and Teddy, Ginny laughed softly at that, finally putting the chocolate cake with the candles '30' set on top.</p><p>'Good morning, Al.' Harry kissed him on the forehead, after doing the same thing with James and Lily, who were still looking at each other with anger - her, much more than he. 'Morning, Teddy.' He took advantage of the fact that his godson still accepted displays of affection, already imagining that soon that would change.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Ever since Harry had come home for the summer holidays, Uncle Vernon had been treating him like a bomb that might go off at any moment, because Harry Potter wasn’t a normal boy. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>As a matter of fact, he was as not normal as it is possible to be. Harry Potter was a wizard — a wizard fresh from his first year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. And if the Dursleys were unhappy to have him back for the holidays, it was nothing to how Harry felt.</em>
</p><p> </p><p>'Yes, Teddy is a good cook.' She smiled at her husband, the freckles looking like a constellation on her face. 'Let's sing?'</p><p>'I love to sing Happy Birthday!' Lily cried out dramatically, standing on the chair so that she could have more height, while the rest got up. Teddy put his arm around Harry's waist, smiling at him, as the man used to do on his birthdays; Albus looked almost out of his skin, looking at the cake as if it were the best thing in the world, and James seemed to have calmed down, let his mother pull him close.</p><p>'Happy Birthday to you…' Ginny started, a huge smile on her face, looking almost happier than when she gave him the gift this morning - a material gift, but Harry had been celebrating that date for years to know that the woman would still surprise him at the end of the night, when no child would interrupt them by jumping on Harry to wake him up.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>The Dursleys hadn’t even remembered that today happened to be Harry’s twelfth birthday. Of course, his hopes hadn’t been high; they’d never given him a real present, let alone a cake — but to ignore it completely…<br/>
</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“You stay out of your aunt’s way while she’s cleaning.” </em>
</p><p>
  <em>Harry left through the back door. It was a brilliant, sunny day. He crossed the lawn, slumped down on the garden bench, and sang under his breath: “Happy birthday to me… happy birthday to me…” </em>
</p><p>
  <em>No cards, no presents, and he would be spending the evening pretending not to exist. He gazed miserably into the hedge. He had never felt so lonely. More than anything else at Hogwarts, more even than playing Quidditch, Harry missed his best friends, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. They, however, didn’t seem to be missing him at all. Neither of them had written to him all summer, even though Ron had said he was going to ask Harry to come and stay.</em>
</p><p> </p><p>Birthdays were never something Harry had been looking forward to, it was a forgotten date that the Dursleys insisted on missing, reminding Harry how insignificant he was. But since his 18th birthday, Ginny seemed willing to change that conception, and every year, they celebrate in  a good mood.</p><p>Since the family was growing, trips to some place in the world, changed to city tours, then to stay at home and have a barbecue with all the Weasleys. But there was always a cake for breakfast.</p><p>'Make a wish, Harry!' Teddy smiled even bigger, and the man took a deep breath and bent down, wishing nothing in particular, just that everything would remain peaceful and that he might have a chance to see his children grow even more, day after day, and that Ginny still loved him tomorrow - a kind of silly request, but he did it on every birthday, just out of habit.</p><p>'Cake! Cake! Cake! 'Lily screamed, clapping and looking in a better mood than when she woke up, irritated and without patience. The other three started talking about something that involved Hogwarts, the grounds and Hagrid, and Ginny winked at him, lifting the plate so he could place the cut piece of cake.</p><p>'Happy birthday, love,' she said, making Harry smile. Today would be a good day.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>tell me what you think, and follow me on tumblr @sweeethinny :)</p></blockquote></div></div>
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